## Metadata - Author: [[Samuel C. Florman]] - Full Title: The Existential Pleasures of Engineering - Category: #books ## Highlights - It is being said that engineering, no matter how clever, is destructive. It is being said that engineering, no matter how well-intentioned, is pernicious. Engineers are being called charlatans, fools, and devils. And such things are not being said by a single eccentric philosopher sitting by Walden Pond, but by myriads of people in every walk of life. ([Location 339](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00CBFXLWQ&location=339)) - If I had to choose a moment to mark the beginning of the downfall of the engineer, I would make it January 31, 1950, the day President Truman announced that work would begin on the development of a hydrogen bomb. The decision to create an “ultimate” weapon, more horrible even than those already existing, made evident, as nothing else could, the latent destructiveness of technology. ([Location 344](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00CBFXLWQ&location=344)) - There was some talk about the sins of science, but it was really the application of science through technology, or engineering, that suddenly seemed malevolent. ([Location 350](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00CBFXLWQ&location=350))